


The fateful Night

by Drowning_in_stardust



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Poor Spencer, Support, Violence, metions of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-03-30 10:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13949916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drowning_in_stardust/pseuds/Drowning_in_stardust
Summary: The team notice something wrong with Reid. What they find out is beyond what they imagined. They vow to be there for their friend. But will he be able to heal?





	1. Chapter 1

They had been noticing for a while. Dr. Spencer Reid was never late. He was always on time, butt planted in his chair, already going over case files before any of them had even showed up. It had been two weeks of consecutive tardiness when they started to really think something was off.  
The first time, a mistake. The second time, another mistake. Third time, a slump, the fourth time was when the whole team really started paying attention to the young doctor.   
The noticed the way his eyes flitted about nervously. And the way he twiddled his thumbs and bounced his leg. They noticed the jumpiness and the heavy bags underneath his eyes. They noticed alright, and they were all equally worried. But they knew better than to pry. Reid had always been the type to avoid causing worry, and they knew he would just avoid the question or ignore them altogether.   
It was frustrating but they trusted their teammate to handle his issues. But two weeks turned into a month with no sign of stopping and the team was getting extremely worried.   
But it wasn’t until Reid actually physically jumped when JJ of all people gently touched his arm that they decided to take action.   
“Reid what’s the matter?” JJ asked, concerned. Spencer shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly, and acted like he was entranced by the case file he was reading at his desk.  
“Hm. Oh, yeah. Fine.” He said distantly, never taking his eyes off of the file. JJ looked miffed as she slowly walked away leaving Reid alone with his case file. She walked out the class double doors and down the hall, effectively running into Derek Morgan.   
“Whoops, sorry Derek.” She apologized rubbing her nose. He patted his chest, which she ran into and chuckled.  
“Why such a rush?” He asked raising an eyebrow. JJ sighed with her hands on her hips.   
“I don’t know. Hey. Do you know what’s wrong with Spence?” She asked. Derek immediately knew what she was talking about.   
“No,” he said rubbing his neck. “But i noticed. He’s been really...off.” He summed up.  
“Tell me about it.” JJ said. “Just a second ago he flinched when i touched him.” Derek frowned.  
“Flinched?” He asked. JJ nodded, looking more than concerned for the person she considers her best friend.   
“I know we all see it. Has anyone brought it up to him? The tardiness, the jumpiness, his lack of focus?” Derek asked. JJ shook her head.  
“I don’t think so.” She said, her eyebrows knitting together. Morgan rubbed his face and sighed.  
“That kid is always a mess.” He chuckled humorlessly.   
“I think it’s time.” JJ decided. “We need to talk to him.” Morgan agreed wholeheartedly.

Reid entered the conference room the next morning, late and sluggish. He had overslept again but still didn’t seem to have gotten enough sleep. He sat down in his seat and set down his canvas bag beside him on the floor. Thats about when he noticed everyone staring directly at him.  
He looked around at his friends.   
“What?” He asked. Non of them answered. JJ pursed her lips as Hotch got up and went to close the door. Reid’s eyes darted around at his teammates. He was starting to get freaked out.   
“Seriously guys, what?” He asked once more voice more unsure. It was JJ who finally spoke after looking around waiting for the indicator to start. They all nodded at her and Reid had the sudden urge to crawl into a hole.   
“Spence we need to talk.” She started, hands folded in front of her. Reid had a feeling he knew where this was going and didn’t want to stick around to get there. He grabbed his bag and started to get up.  
“You know what guys, i think im gonna sit this one out. He made his way to the door. Nevertheless, JJ persisted.   
“Reid. Something is wrong. We are your family we just want to know what.” She said earnestly. His hand hovered about the door handle and he looked back at his best friend with helpless eyes.   
“Kid. You obviously aren’t sleeping. You’re always late. Your jumpy, restless, and you flinch at a sudden touch. Now we can speculate all we want but we need to know what’s going on from you.” He finished. Emily nodded.  
“Yeah, reid. We’re here for you.” She said in a sincere voice. He turned to face them and bit his lip.   
“I know guys. I know. I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it.” He said truthfully. They all exchanged confused looks.   
“Reid it’s us. We are a team and a family. When one of us isn’t functioning well, the whole team suffers. I don’t want to pull this but reid it’s an order. You have to tell us what’s going on.” Hotch concluded. Reid bit his lip, thinking of what he should do. Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, Reid’s face turned to stone and he looked everyone dead on, nearly emotionless. He took a deep breath.   
“ About a month ago i had an old friend over at my apartment. I had known him for a long time so i didn’t think anything of it when we had a few drinks.” He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.   
“But half way through he started to become... strange. He suggested things that i wasn’t comfortable with. But he kept pushing.”  
“After a while he got fed up and he... well he hit me. A lot. I was so out of it.” Reid’s iron expression stayed the same but his voice started to shake, while everyone sat in shock, terrified of where this was going.   
“He dragged me over to my bed and threw me on.” He stopped his face finally scrunching up. He choked over his words for a minute.   
“He did things.” Was all he said when he finally got the words out. Everyone understood immediately.   
It was silent for a moment as everyone tried to process what spencer had just shared with them. All while Reid refused to look at them. Instead he turned his head and started to silently cry. He covered his face with his hand as the sobs grew louder. JJ snapped out of her thoughts and rushed over to him. Without thinking she wrapped her arms around him. He must have jumped ten feet in the air. JJ back off immediately.   
JJ’s face went white as they looked at each other. JJ in shock, and spencer in complete shame. JJ took a step back and regarded her friend.   
“Spence.” She said. “How many times has this happened.” She asked cautiously. Spencer wouldn’t look at her.   
“Spence.” She stressed. He took a deep shaky breath, but still refused to look at them.   
“It’s been about a month now.” He said quietly. At first they were confused, they thought he was repeating how he started the story. But then it hit them. This had been going on for a whole month. The hearts of his team all broke simultaneously. JJ just stared at him. Anger burned behind her eyes. But before she could say anything to her crying friend, there was a loud slam. They all looked in the direction of the noise to see Derek morgan with his shaking fist resting on the table. His head was down as he slowly moved his hand back to his lap. Spencer looked at him terrified. While everyone else just stared. They had never felt this much anger coming from Derek. Never.   
He stood suddenly and marched over to Reid who wanted to cower away from him.   
“Who is he.” He voice shook with rage as he asked the question. Reid looked away and didn’t answer.   
“Reid. I swear. Who. Is. He.” He commanded, getting a little too close. Reid started to shake. JJ noticed this and put a forceful hand on Morgan’s shoulder.   
“Morgan stop. You’re scaring him!” She said forcefully. Derek snapped around to look at her, confused. Then he looked at Reid, who looked very much ready to run. Derek’s anger only grew but he kept it in check. For Reid’s sake. Morgan had gotten angry before and Reid had seen it. But not once has reid looked actually scared of Morgan. This just made his rage grow.   
He took a deep breath and tried to soften his features.   
“Im sorry, kid.” He said sincerely. Reid nodded quickly and looked ashamed at how he was acting.   
“Just.” He sighed. “Please tell me who this guys is.” Morgan said softly. Reid looked at him for a moment, his eyes wet and distant. He shook his head.   
“Reid why?” Emily asked obviously distressed. He shook his head again.   
“I just can’t.” That was when garcia walked in. She had just arrived late. She knew that they were having an intervention but she couldn’t make it that early and she knew her family could handle it.   
“Can’t what?” She asked. Reid shook his head and adjusted his canvas back over his shoulder. He was still shaking.   
“I just can’t.” He whispered before walking out the door, leaving his team heartbroken and so so worried. They all watched him go.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!!!

No one really slept that night. They all laid awake at night thinking of their friend and how he must have suffered. Derek Morgan especially. He replayed in his mind the fear in Reid’s eyes when he had yelled. The way he jumped and flinched. What the hell did that bastard do to him. Anger flared up inside of him at the thought of Spencer alone in his apartment with that sicko. He tried not to think about what he did to spencer, but he couldn’t help speculating.   
He also replayed the last month. He tried to remember how Reid acted in that time. He remembered Reid coming to work one Monday with a split lip. That was about a month ago. That must have been the first time. He remembered Reid coming to work a lot limping or cringing when he moved a certain way. There were numerous occasions when that happened. They all noticed but didn’t want to say anything. He sighed. The team always had trouble addressing things. They knew something was wrong. But knowing Reid, they were scared to pry. Maybe if they has pried sooner it wouldn’t have gotten to this point.   
He also thought of Reid’s eyes trained to the ground as he refused to tell them who it was. He knew him. Reid knew that bastard and he hurt him in away no one should ever be hurt. Morgan groaned. And on top of that he could be attacked at any moment and Reid wouldn’t let them help him. Hotch ordered a guard at his apartment but Reid refused it, sending them away when they got there. He wondered why Reid hadn’t fought back or why he couldn’t reveal who this was.   
So many questions spiraled in Morgan’s head, he couldn’t keep it straight. He rolled over in bed and readjusted his pillow. He just wanted to get some sleep, but was just so worried about reid.   
He was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. He groaned and picked it up.  
“Hello?” He said into the device, his voice groggy.  
“Morgan.” It was JJ. She sounded serious.  
“What is it?” He asked sitting up. “Do we have an assignment?” JJ was silent for a moment.  
“It’s Reid.” She said slightly choked, but trying to appear strong. Morgan’s heart leaped down into his gut.   
“He’s in the hospital.” He didn’t even hear her finish. He was already out of bed and throwing on any clothes he could find. He stuck the phone between his head and shoulder.   
“ which hospital?” He asked urgently.   
“Mount mercy.” She said. He pulled on a pair of shoes, grabbed his keys and was out the door.   
“Im on my way.” 

——

When he got to the reception desk Hotch, Emily, Rossi, and Garcia were waiting.   
“Where’s JJ?” He asked when he didn’t see her. Hotch looked at him.  
“With the doctor. JJ is listed as his family so she’s figuring out what’s going on.” Her explained. Morgan was confused.  
“Wait. So you guys don’t know what happened?” He tried to understand. Rossi spoke up.  
“All we know is that JJ called us in the middle of the night to tell us he was in the hospital.” He spoke bitterly.   
“Do think it’s about-“ garcia trailed off. No one said anything, but they all knew it was true. What were the odds that the day he tells us his darkest secret he ends up in the hospital. Something wasn’t adding up there. Just then JJ came over looking distraught.   
“How is he?” Emily asked. Everyone looked at her in anticipation. She just paled.   
“He was beaten pretty bad. We don’t know what happened yet because he’s still unconscious, but-“ she didn’t finish.   
“What JJ?” Morgan asked earnestly. She took a deep breath and met each of their eyes.  
“He was raped, repeatedly.” She said quietly. Everyone mouth hung as their hearts fell to their stomachs.   
“Can we see him?” Hotch asked quietly. JJ pursed her lips.  
“He’s unconscious but the doctor gave the okay.” She said leading them to the room. They entered the hospital room one by one. Each of them not taking their eyes off the young boy in the bed covered in bruises and cuts. He was breathing out of a tube and he looked pale and so so small. The team all looked at each other, pain in their eyes. Derek was blaming himself for not being there to protect him. Hotch was blaming himself for letting those guards leave his house.   
The rest of the team just felt anger and frustration boil inside of them. They would find who did this. And they would make him pay. 

 

——

Hours passed and still spencer didn’t wake. Emily, Garcia, Rossi, and Hotch were all asleep. Leaving Morgan and JJ alone with their thoughts. They both looked at their unconscious friend and his peaceful sleeping face. Well it would have been peaceful but the bruises and cuts made it difficult for Morgan and JJ to think that way.  
“Why wouldn’t he tell us.” Morgan mused into the air. “He let this go on for a month.” JJ shook her head, not taking her eyes off her best friend.   
“There’s something else going on. Something he’s not telling us.” She said. Morgan nodded. He was thinking the same thing. Reid was never the type to let people push him around. If it bothered him he did something about it. It was how he was, how they all were. There was something keeping him from talking. And they needed to find out what.   
“Wuss hap’ning.” A tired voice slurred. They were both surprised at the voice but their reaction turned to one of relief when they realized Reid was awake. Well awake-ish. They both got up out of their chairs and raced over to his side. JJ took his hand, which rested by his side, and kneeled down.  
“Hey Spence.” She said dearly. He looked at her with a bright, tired smile.   
“Hey JJ.” He said. Morgan went to the other side of the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. He flinched slightly before turning to see it was morgan. He relaxed immediately so Morgan decided to ignore it.   
“How you feeling, kid?” Morgan asked softly. At the question Reid looked confused.   
“What do you mean?” He asked. Morgan and JJ exchanged nervous glances before turning back to Spencer.   
“Well spence you were hurt pretty bad. You’re in the hospital.” JJ said gently, still holding onto his limp hand. Reid’s hand twitched.  
“Hospital?” He asked. Morgan was starting to get nervous at how slow he was processing things. And on top of that he didn’t seem to remember what happened.   
“Yeah, kid. You’re in the hospital.” He clarified. Reid’s face scrunched together in thought.  
“How did i get here. What happened?” He asked eyes slightly more alert, but still drowsy.   
“You don’t remember?” Morgan asked a bit concerned now. Reid thought for a minute.   
“I remember my apartment...” he said. Suddenly without warning his eyes blew wide. He looked back and fourth nervously and his breathing became quick and ragged. He flew forward and sat up holding his head in his hands.   
“No. No. NO. Make it stop. Make it stop. Please!” He screamed. This woke the rest of the team. They sat up, startled and looked to Reid with concern. He was rocking back and forth and screaming for it to stop. JJ and morgan did their best to try and calm him down. But their touch only scared him more. He started flailing about and and crying. He screamed for it to stop. Whatever it was. The whole team was by his side trying to get him to calm down but nothing was working. After a moment Emily ran to get a doctor. They came in and sedated him.  
The team watched as his eyes drooping and his yelling quieted. He slumped over and was placed gently down by the nurses. The doctor looked at the team who all had pale faces and traumatized expressions. He motioned for the them to sit. They all did. All but JJ who kneeled back down by Spencer, hand in hand.   
“This isn’t uncommon for rape victims. “ he explained.  
“He will take some time to recover and he should be okay. As long as he goes to therapy regularly and has a strong support system.” The man gave a small smile.   
“Which i believe he does. Just when he wakes next, make sure not to push him to remember. It’s possible he might be trying to repress the memories. For now that may be for the best.” Then the doctor took his leave. No one knew what to do. They didn’t know whether to be sad, angry, or what. All they knew was their little brother was in unimaginable pain and they needed to do something about it. They were silent for a long time before Morgan spoke up.  
“We need to figure out who did this. If Reid won’t tell us we need to treat this like a case.” He suggested. Everyone seemed to agree.   
“Alright then. What do we know.” Rossi questioned.   
“Well reid knows him. We know that for sure.” Garcia offered.  
“And he won’t say who it is meaning it’s someone he values or respects.” Hotch reasoned.   
“We need to see his apartment.” Morgan said. “ We need to see if he left anything.” He suggested.   
“Right. Emily. You are Rossi go check it out. Garcia be at the ready to do your thing.” Hotch gave out the assignments and they were on their way. Hotch looked around. It was just him, JJ and morgan. Garcia had gone to her post to be at the ready for any information that came her way.   
He looked over and saw JJ leave a gentle kiss on Reid’s hand before a tear fell down her cheek. Hotch’s already broken heart gained another crack. He looked over at Reid’s sleeping face and vowed at that moment to not ever let anything happen to a member of his team again. He hated this feeling too much to let this happen a second time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, i had finals and stoof. Its not the best but it’s as good as i can do rn. I hope you enjoy!!

When they arrived Reid apartment they were not the least bit surprised to see it in complete disarray. Books were strewn about everywhere. Vases were smashed, dishes were on the floor. There had been a struggle and an intense one at that. Upon further inspection of the apartment they found traces of blood leading into the bedroom. Emily and Rossi looked at each other nervously before cautiously making their way into the room. Emily gasped upon entering. Rossi made the sign of the cross.   
There was blood everywhere. Thin droplets splattered the walls and ceiling and there was a large pool of blood on the bed. Restraints hung loosely from the bed posts, and bloodied objects were strewn about. A lamp, a kitchen knife. It looked like they unsub had grabbed anything he could find and used it as a weapon.   
They knew Reid was beaten. But upon seeing the room and all it held, they realized how much of reid’s condition they didn’t know. They gingerly made their way into the room and looked around for anything they may have missed after the first glance. They did their best not to touch anything because the crime scene unit was still on their way. But they were just so eager to find any clues as to who did this to reid. They just couldn’t wait. They didn’t find anything else out of the ordinary until Rossi spotted a piece of cloth sticking out from behind the door. He glided over and kneeled down, picking up the small piece of torn fabric. He examined the door and found a nail sticking out at about hip level.   
“This must have come from the unsub.” Rossi guessed. Emily nodded and looked closer.  
“Looks like it came from a dress shirt.” Emily noticed. Rossi looked up at Emily.  
“This guy must have been pretty well dressed then.” Emily frowned.  
“Meaning he either came from a formal setting or his work dictates he dresses formally.” Rossi stood up.   
“Well we have a vague description of what he was wearing. So that’s something.” Emily gestured to the room.   
“And with all these struggles, there’s no way he didn’t leave some sort of physical evidence behind.” Emily said. Rossi put his hands in his pockets.  
“Well you’d be surprised.” He said bitterly. Emily knew he spoke from experience. She looked at him for a moment before her phone buzzed. It was an eta on the arrival of the crime scene unit.  
“They’ll be here any second.” She said. Rossi sighed.   
“We should probably wait here until they’re done, in case they find anything.” Emily nodded. Rossi was looking at the crime scene, and emily could practically see the gears turning in his head.  
“What is it?” She asked. He licked his lips.  
“Does anything seem angry about this crime scene to you? I mean, the blood splatter, the overkill, the way the weapons he used are just thrown behind him?” Rossi explained. Emily looked and realized what he meant. It did seem that the unsub was angry. Almost like he was getting revenge...  
“Rossi. Every single time this guy attacked reid there were bruises, small cuts, but nothing serious.” She started.   
“But tonight he ended up in the hospital and was sexually assaulted repeatedly.” She looked at Rossi, wide eyed.   
“As far as we know he only attacked Reid once every once in a while. That’s consistent with the injuries he would come to work with.” Rossi said, putting the pieces together.  
“Why would he change his m.o now?” Emily said finishing his thought.   
“Unless reid suddenly did something, something like tell his whole team what had been happening?” Rossi looked at Emily, fear in his eyes. Emily let out a small huff or air and tried not to let tears sting her eyes.  
“This happened because he snitched.” Emily said in disbelief. Rossi closed his eyes.  
“Our unsub is someone he knows alright. He works close to us. And judging by the fact that he won’t tell who it is, it’s someone of high authority.” Rossi said.  
“As far as i know non of us told anyone about what he said. He had to have overheard it or had his suspicions and got spencer to talk.” Emily said.  
“This jackass works for the bureau.” Emily said in disgust. Rossi picked up his phone.   
“Im calling hotch.” 

——-

Reid had woken up a few times in the hours that Morgan, JJ, and Hotch were with him. But each time, he never said a word. JJ tried to talk to him of course. But he would only give her a helpless glance then close his eyes. He would stay that way for a while, but we all knew he wasn’t sleeping. Morgan guessed he was having trouble keeping the memories at bay. Which just made everything worse.   
He couldn’t be touched. Not even by JJ anymore. For a while she held his hand and tried her best to comfort him, but it seemed any physical contact was out of the question. When he woke up with his hand in hers, he freaked out and backed away as far as he could with the injuries he had. He would wince in pain as he tried to steady his heavy breathing.   
Morgan was even worse. If he so much as looked at Reid, he would whimper in fear until morgan would look away. Hotch noted all of this. He was weary of touch, but even more so if it came from a man. We already knew his attacker was male so that didn’t give us much. What was really interesting was how morgan’s gaze seemed to set him off. Hotch looked at morgan who was sleeping by reid’s bed.   
Brown eyes. It was purely speculation, but maybe his attacker had brown eyes. Jj was asleep on Reid other side. Her hand rested inches from Reid’s, almost touching but not quite. He was looked at them when his phone buzzed. He quickly went to answer it so he wouldn’t wake the others.   
“Hotchner.” He answered quietly.   
“Aaron.” Rossi said from across the line urgently.   
“What is it?” Hotch asked, sitting up.  
“We found out more about the unsub. Hotch. He works for the bureau.” Hotch didn’t let the suprise show on his face show, but it was very much there.  
“Are you sure?” He asked. He almost felt Rossi nod on the other line.  
“Positive.” He said with certainty. Hotch rubbed his face with his hands and let out a huff of air that could have been a sigh.   
“Okay. We need to handle this accordingly. Keep me posted.” Was all he said before hanging up. He slumped back into his chair and watched the slow rise and fall of reid’s chest as he slept. He mentally went through everyone at the bureau he had ever met that could be a suspect. No one stood out in his mind. But that didn’t stop him from going through the list again, and again.   
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Morgan put his hand on his shoulder. He looked up in surprise. He hadn’t even seen him coming.   
“Im gonna go get some coffee.” He said before leaving the hospital room. JJ was still asleep by Reid’s bed. He knew that the second he told them they would be furious. They might even go about it the wrong way. He pursed his lips. But he had the tell them. Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading. I love y’all!!!


End file.
